Tales from the Stream Ch. 26

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." said Avie.

"Mm," mumbled Jade, as she held up a finger and finished swallowing the soup she was working on. "That's Darius."

"Hi, Darius."

At the sound of Avie's voice, Darius promptly flipped over, exposing his underside. His fez fell to the ground at Avie's feet.

"Tummy rubs," said Amaliya. "They love tummy rubs."

"Of course," said Avie, crooking her finger and running it over Darius's shining metal underside.

After a few seconds spent pistoning his legs in the air, Darius righted himself and made the leap from Avie's lap to Captain Jade's. He reached out with a single pincer and began tapping at Jade's palm.

"You'll have to ask her how she feels about it," said Jade.

Darius tapped at Jade's palm some more.

"Okay," said Jade, and then turned to Avie. "Darius here heard about the Reverend Moberg."

Avie's brow furrowed as she focused on Captain Jade.

"Harvester crabs are terrible gossips," said Amaliya.

Jade nodded. "Anyway, he wants to know if you'd mind him hitching a ride back with you."

Darius tapped at Jade's palm some more.

"Darius says he's heard stories about Moberg from Moira and the others and it makes him sad. So he would like to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."

"Um, sure, I guess," said Avie, reaching out to touch her fingertip to Darius's back. "I'm not sure what I can do though."

Darius tapped at Jade's palm.

"A place to stay, is what he said," said Jade, "and WiFi to report back. He also wants to know if you have a garden that needs tending. But no soup. He says his soup serving days are over."

"I..." said Avie, "I'm kind of between apartments at the moment, "so no garden. And I... I'm not going to make you serve soup, Darius."

Darius bounced up and down twice and turned a tight circle on Jade's lap. He crouched down and made the leap back to Avie, where he wrapped his eight legs around her wrist and settled down with his tummy against her forearm. His fez lay in the dirt at Avie's feet.

"I think you made a friend," said Jade.

"I think so," said Avie, stroking Darius's back.

"They're good judges of character," said Jade.

Avie blushed.

At the airlock, later that evening

"You sure you don't want to spend the night, honey?" asked Amaliya. "I promise we won't try to seduce you unless you want us to."

Avie stood facing Amaliya, with Captain Joan at her side and Darius riding on her shoulder. "It's tempting," she said. "This is a beautiful place. I could easily get lost here. But..."

"But," said Amaliya, brushing her hand against Avie's shoulder. "You've got a life on New Melbourne."

"Yeah," said Avie. "It's kind of crap at the moment, but it's my life, and I'm getting back on my feet. Plus, it's home, you know."

"I know," said Amaliya, opening her arms wide.

As Avie fell in for a hug, Jade added her arms to the mix. "I've got some Dogecoin stashed if you need a little something to tide you over," she said.

"Thank you captain, I'll be okay."

"We can hug it out after I drop you off if you want," said Captain Joan.

Avie smiled and threw her arms around Joan.

"Or now," said Captain Joan, grinning.

From beyond the airlock, Moira came trotting out with Lenore in tow. They were each holding two clear pouches stamped with 500ml at the bottom and filled with soup.

"For later," said Moira.

"We had some extra," said Lenore.

"Thank you for doing this," whispered Moira, as she handed the pouches to Avie.

"Goodbye," said Emily and Jamie.

Lúcia and Aidoru stepped forward to surround Avie with eight arms of hugging. During that time, Aidoru slipped three s'mores flavored granola bars into the pockets of Avie's jumpsuit.

"Your carriage awaits, my lady," said Joan, bowing with a flourish of her hand.

"Blink twice if you need help," said Lúcia, grinning.

Afterword

Just a short little slice of life with the crew. Hope you enjoyed it!